Other Heresies: Hungary

In Eastern Europe, too, governments have been trying to make Communism work better. Neither of the two that have gone furthest in producing variations of the system is directly comparable to poor, agrarian China. But one shares China's penchant for econom

In the fashionable neighborhood of Zugliget, overlooking downtown Budapest, the drabness of Communism seems a world away. Sleek, modern villas nestle beside Italianate mansions along the quiet, winding streets. Well-coiffed women in fur coats promenade upon the snow-dusted sidewalks. The district that housed many of Hungary's pre war magnates now shelters a different breed of plutocrat: the entrepreneurs who have prospered under the country's unique brand of "goulash Communism."

Hungary's 11 million people have long been the envy of the East bloc for their cautious success at replacing at least part of a Soviet-style centralized economy with profit-oriented agriculture cooperatives...